The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China
Low-carbon cities have become a new trend in regional development around the world. Whether they can improve the environment in China, especially the air quality, remains to be tested. In this paper we take low-carbon city construction as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically test the net effec...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/9/1355 |
| _version_ | 1797491367892484096 |
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| author | Jingran Zhang Lei Gao Wukui Wang Zhenzhu Deng Xi Zhang |
| author_facet | Jingran Zhang Lei Gao Wukui Wang Zhenzhu Deng Xi Zhang |
| author_sort | Jingran Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low-carbon cities have become a new trend in regional development around the world. Whether they can improve the environment in China, especially the air quality, remains to be tested. In this paper we take low-carbon city construction as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically test the net effects, influencing factors, and dynamic effects of low-carbon city construction on air quality by constructing a multistage propensity score matching and Difference-in-Differences model. After a series of robustness tests, the following conclusions are drawn: first, low-carbon city construction reduces the regional Air Quality Index, inhalable particulate matter, fine particulate matter, and NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations. Among them, the construction effect in 2017 was the most significant. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to promote low-carbon city policies and accurately identify different types of air pollutants to improve the overall effectiveness of low-carbon city policies. Second, temperature, humidity, wind level, and other meteorological factors, as well as gross domestic product for the proportion of secondary industry, will affect air quality. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider meteorological, economic, social, and other influencing factors in an early stage of the construction of the next batch of low-carbon cities, so as to avoid falling into the trap of “building first and managing later”. Third, the impact of secondary industry on air quality is significantly greater than that of tertiary industry. Therefore, the upgrading of industrial structure promoted by low-carbon city policy is effective in improving air quality. Fourth, the construction of low-carbon cities in western China has the most significant impact on air quality improvement. Therefore, the joint prevention and control mechanism of air pollution control in urban agglomeration should be established. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:47:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c7ba74ca8eff45d5abc94a10368ada33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:47:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-c7ba74ca8eff45d5abc94a10368ada332023-11-23T14:58:16ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332022-08-01139135510.3390/atmos13091355The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from ChinaJingran Zhang0Lei Gao1Wukui Wang2Zhenzhu Deng3Xi Zhang4School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, ChinaLow-carbon cities have become a new trend in regional development around the world. Whether they can improve the environment in China, especially the air quality, remains to be tested. In this paper we take low-carbon city construction as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically test the net effects, influencing factors, and dynamic effects of low-carbon city construction on air quality by constructing a multistage propensity score matching and Difference-in-Differences model. After a series of robustness tests, the following conclusions are drawn: first, low-carbon city construction reduces the regional Air Quality Index, inhalable particulate matter, fine particulate matter, and NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations. Among them, the construction effect in 2017 was the most significant. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to promote low-carbon city policies and accurately identify different types of air pollutants to improve the overall effectiveness of low-carbon city policies. Second, temperature, humidity, wind level, and other meteorological factors, as well as gross domestic product for the proportion of secondary industry, will affect air quality. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider meteorological, economic, social, and other influencing factors in an early stage of the construction of the next batch of low-carbon cities, so as to avoid falling into the trap of “building first and managing later”. Third, the impact of secondary industry on air quality is significantly greater than that of tertiary industry. Therefore, the upgrading of industrial structure promoted by low-carbon city policy is effective in improving air quality. Fourth, the construction of low-carbon cities in western China has the most significant impact on air quality improvement. Therefore, the joint prevention and control mechanism of air pollution control in urban agglomeration should be established.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/9/1355low-carbon cityair qualityMulti-period PSM-DID model |
| spellingShingle | Jingran Zhang Lei Gao Wukui Wang Zhenzhu Deng Xi Zhang The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China Atmosphere low-carbon city air quality Multi-period PSM-DID model |
| title | The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China |
| title_full | The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China |
| title_short | The Impact of Low-Carbon City Pilot Policies on Air Quality: Quasi-Natural Experimental Evidence from China |
| title_sort | impact of low carbon city pilot policies on air quality quasi natural experimental evidence from china |
| topic | low-carbon city air quality Multi-period PSM-DID model |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/9/1355 |
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